EDITORIAL: Florida's 145-year-old mistake

Published: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at 10:16 AM.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups aren’t making many new friends in Florida.

They’re asking a U.N.-affiliated human rights panel to review state policies that have slowed restoration of ex-felons’ voting rights. This will rile folks who despise both the ACLU and the United Nations.

The ACLU, Project Vote and like-minded organizations are frustrated by Florida’s attitude toward voting rights, and we can see why. Over the past few years, state politicians have been in a mad dash to 1) make voting more difficult and 2) make sure that fewer people vote.

In a nation where representatives are elected to serve ALL the people, voting should be open to as many people as possible. That’s why schoolkids are taught the virtues of voting. That’s why we have get-out-the-vote drives.

Florida has been reluctant to get out the vote, however, when it comes to ex-cons. Beginning in 1868, the state flatly banned felons from voting once they were out of prison. Historians believe the real reason was to keep freed slaves from voting.

Under reforms made in 2007, the clemency board agreed to automatically begin restoring voting rights for nonviolent felons as soon as they finished their sentences. But Florida reversed course in 2011, halting the automatic restoration of rights and imposing a five-year waiting period.

According to ACLU figures, 24,375 people in Florida had their rights restored in 2009 and 5,582 in 2010. But from April 2011 through March 2012, there were only 94.

After a felon has served his sentence, he should continue to be punished by having his civil rights withheld.

Only lowlifes abuse our election laws. This is absurd. Last week, a Destin man was arrested on charges of making campaign contributions in someone else’s name and causing another to make a false statement to the Federal Election Commission. The suspect is a well-to-do developer.

Regarding ex-felons, Florida ought to repudiate, not perpetuate, the mistake it made 145 years ago.

Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published
without permission. Links are encouraged.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups aren’t making many new friends in Florida.

They’re asking a U.N.-affiliated human rights panel to review state policies that have slowed restoration of ex-felons’ voting rights. This will rile folks who despise both the ACLU and the United Nations.

The ACLU, Project Vote and like-minded organizations are frustrated by Florida’s attitude toward voting rights, and we can see why. Over the past few years, state politicians have been in a mad dash to 1) make voting more difficult and 2) make sure that fewer people vote.

In a nation where representatives are elected to serve ALL the people, voting should be open to as many people as possible. That’s why schoolkids are taught the virtues of voting. That’s why we have get-out-the-vote drives.

Florida has been reluctant to get out the vote, however, when it comes to ex-cons. Beginning in 1868, the state flatly banned felons from voting once they were out of prison. Historians believe the real reason was to keep freed slaves from voting.

Under reforms made in 2007, the clemency board agreed to automatically begin restoring voting rights for nonviolent felons as soon as they finished their sentences. But Florida reversed course in 2011, halting the automatic restoration of rights and imposing a five-year waiting period.

According to ACLU figures, 24,375 people in Florida had their rights restored in 2009 and 5,582 in 2010. But from April 2011 through March 2012, there were only 94.

After a felon has served his sentence, he should continue to be punished by having his civil rights withheld.

Only lowlifes abuse our election laws. This is absurd. Last week, a Destin man was arrested on charges of making campaign contributions in someone else’s name and causing another to make a false statement to the Federal Election Commission. The suspect is a well-to-do developer.

Regarding ex-felons, Florida ought to repudiate, not perpetuate, the mistake it made 145 years ago.